A Picnic
by hpchika
Summary: “Women,” Draco muttered. He grabbed a handful of shrimp and began removing their shells. “Always using their beauty to get things.”“Pretty useful, don’t you think?” Ginny responded gratefully.


A Picnic

As soon as they arrived at their picnic site, the Harry, Ron and Draco unloaded all the food from the car, while Hermione and Ginny looked for a place with a shade where they could stay at and put the mats on. They found a spot under a tree near the lake. Hermione immediately sat down and breathed deeply. Ginny followed suit.

"Isn't this great?" Hermione announced, smiling as she looked around.

"It's brilliant," Harry said as he arrived with Ron and Draco, placing the food baskets on the grass. "How did you know about this place?"

"Professor McGonagall told us about them in class in passing," Hermione reminded him.

"If you bothered to listen," Draco remarked, smirking. He then saw Ginny rolling her eyes at him so he winked at her. Harry made a face at him.

"So what do we do now?" Ron asked.

"Normally, people eat when they decide to go on a picnic," Draco quipped.

Ron glared at him. Ginny chuckled and opened one of the baskets and brought out the food. Hermione brought out the paper plates and plastic utensils then distributed them to everyone.

And so they began eating. Hermione and Ron kept on feeding each other that Harry and Draco resorted to eating with their backs facing the couple.

"Hey," Hermione said, feigning feeling hurt.

"Are you two done being couply?" Harry asked in defense.

"There's no such word as _couply_, Harry," Hermione replied evenly. "But yes, we are."

"Better be sure," Harry warned, turning in his seat. But Draco didn't move.

"Draco," Hermione prompted.

"I prefer to be on the safe side," Draco commented. Ginny giggled.

"Ow!" Draco yelped as a plastic spoon hit the back of his head. He turned around and sat in such a way that they were in a circle. "Alright," he grumbled.

"Much better," Hermione declared, obviously pleased with herself.

"There's nothing wrong with what we were doing, though," Ron said, shrugging.

"That's _your_ opinion, Ron," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. She turned to Draco. "Hey, can you remove my shrimp shells for me?" she asked, smiling at him as sweetly as she could. Draco raised an eyebrow at her in amusement. "Please!" Harry, Hermione and Ron exchanged glances.

"You're asking a Malfoy to remove shrimp shells for you, a Weasley," Draco clarified, highly amused.

"But I'm the prettiest Weasley there is," Ginny reasoned, batting her eyelashes at him. She sighed. "Please Draco! I really don't want to get my hands dirty right now."

"Women," Draco muttered. He grabbed a handful of shrimp and began removing their shells. "Always using their beauty to get things."

"Pretty useful, don't you think?" Ginny responded gratefully. She leaned towards him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks." Harry's eyes moved back and forth from Ginny to Draco.

"And I thought Hermione and I were in first place for the mushiest couple," Ron said, disgusted.

"We're not a couple," Ginny denied at once, blinking.

"Right and I am the king of the world," Ron retorted, rolling his eyes at her.

"That's enough," Hermione said. She stood up. "Come on, let's take a walk." She reached down to Ron to take his hand.

"But we just ate," Ron protested, looking up at her. "Can't we just lie down for a while and let the food digest?"

"You want to be big and fat and not worthy of me?" Hermione snapped.

Ron stood up at once and took her hand. "I thought you said you wouldn't care whatever I looked like," he muttered.

Hermione merely shushes him and looked behind her as they began walking away. "Come on guys! Harry!"

Harry looked at Ginny, who made no move to stand up, then at Draco, who remained seated as well, not holding shrimp anymore, his back against the tree and his legs stretched out in front of him. Then Hermione called him again and he decided to just leave.

Ginny stayed seated. Draco remained in his position. Until Harry, Hermione and Ron could barely be seen anymore. Draco then straightened up and moved to sit nearer to Ginny.

"How are you feeling?" he asked gently.

"Better," she replied.

"Are you able to sleep already?" he then inquired, looking at her.

She paused before she answered. "Sometimes." She shifted on her seat and faced him slightly. "Draco… I want to thank you for writing me in the beginning of the summer."

"Of course," he said, nodding slightly. She breathed deeply.

He reached out a hand to her. She immediately took it. He then pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her. Closing her eyes, she rested her head on his chest and allowed herself to be comforted. It was surprising, but he seemed to be the only one who could comfort her like this. It seemed like she could only talk to him about her fears and what's been bothering her about what happened in the war. It never occurred to her to talk to Ron and Harry about it. Hermione maybe. But she still didn't. She hadn't really planned on talking to anyone about it until Draco wrote to her a week after the war stopped.

She remembered the first time they sort of talked without shouting insults at each other. It was just the beginning of her sixth year, his seventh year. She was coming down from the carriage after Harry, Ron and Hermione. Her skirt got stuck on one of the nails inside the carriage floor. She tripped and would've fallen if it hadn't been for him, who caught her by reflex. She had never felt so surprised and flustered in her life. She thanked him and turned to go on her way when he suggested that they walk in together. Being utterly astonished, she never even managed to be suspicious of him. So they walked in together. And that was the beginning of their weird friendship.

They never really hung out or anything like that. But whenever she needed someone to talk to, he'd be the first person she'd think of. And he would come to her when he needed some company. It was weird and people talked about it, but they couldn't have cared less. He had been friends with Harry even before they became friends.

"I'm glad you're here," she told him, lifting her head from his chest and smiling at him.

"Malfoy Manor isn't the happiest place to be in," he said in response, the sides of his mouth curling into a smile.

"Hmm," was all she said, chuckling. She then pulled away from him and grabbed her knapsack. "I think I'm going to lie down for a while. All of a sudden I'm feeling sleepy."

She positioned her knapsack and rested her head on it, lying down facing the sky, her eyes closed. It felt good to just be able to relax and think of nothing except the current moment she was in. Suddenly she felt something heavy on her stomach. She opened her eyes. It was Draco's head. He was lying down as well with her stomach as his pillow. He turned and looked at her, smiling. She smiled back.

"Are you hearing the grumbling of my tummy?" she asked. He chuckled. Then he reached for her hand and brought it to his mouth, kissing it. "If you keep doing that, Hermione, Harry and Ron might arrive and think we're a couple again."

"Hey, you were the one who was asking me to peel shrimps for you," he said defensively. "You kissed me, too."

Her cheeks flushed pink. "That was to thank you for the shrimps," she said.

He chuckled and kissed her hand once more. "But really, is that such a bad thing, us being a couple?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you telling me you want to be a couple?" she asked, a teasing smile on her face.

"Are _you_ telling me that you want _us_ to be a couple?" he asked back.

"I asked first," she told him, sitting up slightly.

"So? I asked you second," he replied, grinning mischievously. "Besides you didn't say anything about _us_. You just asked if _I _wanted to be a couple, which obviously can't happen because I'm a single person. So technically, I asked first."

"But…" she trailed away. She sighed resignedly. "Alright. You win."

"Ha!"

She sat up straight, making Draco sort of roll off of her. "Did you just say 'Ha!'?" she asked.

"Embarrassingly, yes," he admitted, sitting up. She giggled. "And you're changing the topic."

"What topic?" she asked innocently. Draco sort of glowered, which just made her laugh even more. "Look Draco, I just hmmpphhh…"

Draco had grabbed her face and captured her lips in a searing kiss. Ginny's eyes flew shut and her hands sort of fell helplessly to her sides. Soon enough it was over. He pulled away and looked intently at her.

"So… is it such a bad thing, being a couple?" he asked, smirking at her.

She shook her head as if in a trance. "No, not a bad thing at all."


End file.
